By Elizabeth Osayande

The drive to stop girls and women continuous use of rags for menstruation, and to give the female gender a space to share their experiences of period without being ashamed, gave birth to the founder, Nathaniel Albert Foundation, Miss Oluwakemi Adesina distributing over 10000 pads to teenage girls.

Speaking exclusively to Vanguard, Adesina explained how she came about the idea of distributing these sanitary wears and on meeting specific needs of the female gender in general.

Her words: “Sometime in 2019, I attended a conference where I saw a reusable pad for the first time and I could relate with the struggle of knowing the best sanitary product to use and what was accepted among teenage girls. After the conference I began to research about period poverty in Africa with Nigeria at the center.

I discovered that some females use rags for period because they can’t afford a pad while some in rural communities don’t even have access to where pads are sold. I traveled to East Africa in 2020 to see and learn how period poverty is been managed by NGO. That was how the idea came up to get and distribute reusable pads with fabrics and other materials.

“Again, we are involve in other projects apart from Imenstruate that focus on menstrual hygiene, menstrual talk and sanitary production. For instance, under project Padbank , girls in rural communities pick sanitary products every month at a partner center. We have a center in Oyo state that serves girls from seven villages. Other projects are scholarships to indigent student; back to school project; and the Food Bank which provide food for families mainly for those in the rural and urban slump area.

“Our main concern is to reduce all forms of poverty which is not limited to period poverty, we also teach boys about menstruation to reduce the stigmatization.” She said.

Explaining how the NGO has impacted people since inception, the founder of Nathaniel Albert Foundation reiterated that : “ We have provided menstrual education to over 5000 girls and boys. And distributed over 1000 pads menstrual kits in schools, religious areas among others.

“In 2021 alone, we held advocacy visits and training in 11 schools across Oyo and Lagos states. We also launched the PadBox project which supplies menstrual hygiene products to 40 girls from seven communities on a monthly basis and have distributed 10000 pads. In 2020, we enrolled five women in two entrepreneurship programs of their interest. We have been privileged to watch some of these women fight their way out of abject poverty through the skills they acquired.

Between 2020 and 2021, we have organized four community events at Alagbado area in Lagos state. We distributed food supplies to 2,000 families in these events. The events which we tagged Christmas Party and Children Party are now the basis of our annual food Bank for families in indigent communities. This Children party is purposely designed to celebrate children who for many reasons are attached to poverty; they have never been truly celebrated before.

During school resumption annually, we organize a Back-To-School supplies drive for over 285 children in various schools across South West Nigeria. In addition to the 5 students on our full scholarship program, we have over 2000 children who benefit from our educational initiatives.

“ Our aims are;To end period poverty, solve inequality in education due to period stigmatization and assist a girls dream. To have an all essential hub where will all a woman needs will be produced. To be among the top 5 organization in Africa concerning women and children and lastly to create products that reduce difficulty in being a woman.

Since inception, Nathaniel Albert foundation has provided menstrual education to over 5000 girls and boys. In 2021 alone, we held advocacy visits and training in 11 schools across Oyo and Lagos states. We have also launched the PadBox project which supplies menstrual hygiene products to 40 girls from seven communities on a monthly basis and have distributed 10000 pads”